IB HOA ~ Unit 1, Day 5 Objectives: Students will be able to… 1. identify the pro/con arguments within the 19th c. abolitionist debate. 2. describe the culture that American slaves created for themselves. 3. distinguish between the slave conditions, practices, and agency that existed in the U.S. and Brazil.

Homework (due next class): CAS form? Glory letter? AP text: Ch. 19 (pgs. 409-431) Take Cornell notes. 2 pgs. Of single-spaced notes per ten pages of text reading = 4 pgs. of single-spaced notes Focus: Chapter Intro. (first 2-3 paragraphs; ALL body paragraph topic sentences)

Slavery in Antebellum America: A Social, Political, Economic, & Moral Issue ~ the Pro & Con Arguments for an historically-simulated debate

Slavery polarized the U.S. in the antebellum (pre-war) era. Student objective: Past IB HL History P3 exam question: …students will be able to identify the pro and con arguments from the antebellum debate over slavery in the U.S. “For what reasons and in what ways did supporters of slavery in the nineteenth century use legal, religious, and economic arguments in its defense – and how did abolitionists respond to these claims?”

Con – Legal: Laws were basically on the side of the slave owners However, as Henry David Thoreau and other transcendentalists have recently been claiming, “Just because something is legal, does not mean it is morally prudent.” Of course, laws do tend to be ambiguous, making them debatable….

Con – Religious/Ideological: Normal family life difficult for slaves Fathers couldn’t always protect children Families vulnerable to break-up by masters It was immoral, cruel, inhumane Albeit fictitious, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin personified the moral argument and served as a critical impetus in the escalation of the anti-slavery cause If slave owners felt their actions were justified, why did many of them free their slaves in their wills? Encourages rape of female slaves. Miscegenation data proves this: 4-8% of slave children fathered by whites The Bible: Golden Rule … “Do unto others as ye would that they should do to you.” In violation with the Ten Commandments Contradicted the US’s political inception and notion of political freedom Declaration of Independence …all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness….

Con – Economic: Sustained an economic caste system Increased classism in South b/c it was more difficult for small-scale, white farmers to compete against the prices generated by the free labor supplied by slaves Slavery profitable for the elite, not for South as a whole Profits from cotton not well-distributed White small farmers had lower living standards than most Northern farmers Slave system causes waste of human resources, Southern underdevelopment Yes, it was profitable, but slavery kept the South from being all it could be; slavery kept the South from industrializing

Pro – Legal: The prohibition of slavery was considered unconstitutional b/c that would have violated the 5th amendment, which protects private property. States’ rights – federal govn’t should not involve itself The 10th amendment …federalism…powers not granted to the national government nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or the people. The law was generally on the side of slave owners, and precedent after precedent was set e.g. Via the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court sanctioned pro-slavery congressional decisions (e.g. that Congress had no authority to forbid slavery in the territories and that the Constitution guaranteed the existence of slavery; that slaves were not citizens; were the property of others, etc.)

Pro – Religious/Ideological: Racist justifications: Blacks were inferior to whites and were unsuited for life in any other condition Because slaves were considered inferior, they needed to be protected and guided in their spiritual needs. Removing them from a non-Christian land and Christianizing them was in their best interest It was the only way the two races could live together Biblical Justifications: Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren Old Testament and NT prophets /apostles never condemned it. Slavery mentioned over and over again in the Bible (e.g. Leviticus, Exodus, etc.), which condoned slavery Servants should obey their masters

Pro – Religious/Ideological: Neither Old nor New Testaments condemn slavery - ”servants should obey their masters” Historical/precedent-setting justifications: All the great civilizations of antiquity practiced slavery. Aristotle: in every organized society men of superior talents would become masters over those of inferior talents. “There has never yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one portion of the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of the other.” – John C. Calhoun “There was no country, in the most ancient time of its history, of which the people had made any considerable advances in industry, or refinement, in which slavery had not been previously and long established.” - Edmund Ruffin, The Political Economy of Slavery Cultural Justifications: Normalized from the U.S.’s inception…4 of the first 5 presidents owned slaves Slavery was the only way to preserve American values and traditions which were being replaced in the North by greed and corruption as its labor system demonstrated. “Without slavery, there can be no accumulation of property, no providence for the future, no taste for comfort or elegancies, which are the characteristics and essentials of civilization.” – William Harper, SC

Pro – Economic: Labor/In general: Greatly benefited southern AND national economies In 1850, South produced 75% of world's cotton; cotton = most important U.S. business No element of disharmony. “It is the only condition of society in which labor and capital are associated on a large scale in which their interests are combined and not in conflict. Every plantation is an organized community… where all work, where each member gets subsistence and a home.” job security for slaves (whereas, they could experience unemployment, layoffs in the North) The benefits to the U.S. economy far outweighed any possible moral negatives Relatively decent treatment due in part to their increasing economic value after 1808 (when slave trade (not slavery) was banned by the U.S. Congress) There was simply no incentive to brutalize/harm property (slaves) when they were needed to be productive for labor.

Pro – Economic: Paternalism: Slaveholding gentlemen took personal responsibility for the physical and moral well-being of their dependents - women, children, and slaves. Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty, pg. 394 Slaves were better off: better fed, better clothed, better housed, more economically secure in general - than northern factory workers Slave owners had the economic incentive to care for their slaves….

Informal Works Cited: IB 11 students’ research for class debate (class of 2008) IBO mark scheme, May 2006 History of the Americas HL Paper 3 Exam Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty: An American History, Volume I (New York: W. W. Norton, 2006). miscellaneous, reputable web sites